Combined spark arrester and ejector



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-S heet 1. T. E. AUSTIN. COMBINED SPARK ARRESTER AND EJEQiE-DR.

PatentedJuly 4, 1893,.

a5 m Tnumm EAUST! N,

2 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

T. E. AUSTIN. COMBINED SPARK ARRESTER AND EJEUTOR No. 500,648..

Patented July 4, 1893.

y INVENTOR:

TRUMAN E..AU.ST|N,|. WM aim FIG. 5.

WITNESSES .Httornqy NITED TATES ATENT OFFICE.

TRUMAN E. AUSTIN, OF BINGHAMTON, NElV YORK.

COMBINED SPARK ARRESTER AND EJECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 500,648, dated July 4, 1893.

Application filed November 17, 1892- Serial No. 452,256. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TRUMAN E. AUSTIN, of Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in a Combined Spark Arrester and Ejector, of which the foliowingis a specification.

This invention relates to a device for intercepting and arresting the sparks commonly discharged from the Smokestack of a ccmotive engine, and forcibly discharging the same by a current of steam into the ash-pan beneath the grates of the fire-box, wherein they will remain in an unconsumed condition, the force of the steam and air injected beneath the fire-grates serving to stimulate the combustion of the fuel in the fire-box.

The object of my invention is to provide facilities for preventing the discharge of sparks from the smoke-stack of a locomotiveengine, and collecting said sparks in a receptacle wherefrom they can be easily removed when opportunity oifers; this object I attain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings which are herein referred to and form part of this specification.

In said drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive-boiler provided with my invention, the forward part of said boiler being broken out to show internal parts, and the wheels of the locomotive being shown in skeleton outline. Fig. 2 is a plan View of said boiler with the forward part broken out to show internal parts. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of Fig. 1 at the lineX X. Fig.4is an enlarged longitudinal section of the ash-pan,

cinder-pocket, and cinder-pipe. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the ash-pan at the line Y Y on Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a transverse sec tion of Fig. 5 at the line Z Z.

As represented in the drawings, A designates the locomotive-boiler, of which none of the internal parts of the fire-box 1 is shown, for the reason that my invention does not affeet the construction of that part of the boiler.

B designates the smoke-arch at the forward end of the boiler, which has erected thereon a smoke-stack, 2, of a usual and well-known form; within said smoke-arch a branch steampipe, 3, leads to a steam-chest, 4, of each cylinder, 5, and exhaust-nozzles, 6, lead from the exhaust-passage of each of said cylinders, but

described form no part of this invention.

said smoke-arch and its contained parts aboi e n said smoke-arch, between the forward end of the boiler-tubes and the opening into smokestack 2, a spark-arrester, U, is located to prevent the sparks from the fire from being ejected from the smoke-stack by the force of the exhaust-blast; said spark-arrester consists of a pendent portion, 7, which is attached to the forward tube-head of the boiler above the upper tier of the tubes and, extending downwardly below the exhaust-nozzles 6, inclines forwardly to join an upwardly-inclined portion, 8, which extends to the forward end of the smoke-arch B; the foremost part of the portion 7 and the entire portion 8 of said sparkarrester are composed preferably of No. 16 steel wire formed into a netting of eight meshes to the inch. Directly against the rearward face of said netting at the portion 7, between it and the boiler-tubes,a heavier netting, 9, is interposed to receive the first effect of the heated sparks and serves as a protection to the finer netting of the portion 7. The effect of said spark-arrester is to intercept the sparks discharged from the boilertubes and deflect them to the bottom of the smoke-arch, into a position where the force of the blast from the exhaust-nozzles will serve to move them to the forward end of said smoke-arch.

D designates a pocket which is open to the smoke-arch B and is pendent from the shell of the boiler near the forward end of said smoke-arch; said pocket forms a receptacle for the sparks which are carried into the forward end of the smoke-arch, and the deposition of the sparks or cinders into said pocket is accelerated by means of blast-pipes, 10, which lead from the exhaustnozzles 6 and have their foremost ends bent downward into said pocket, so that the force of the blast from said pipes will be toward the bottom of said pocket.

E designates a cinder-pipe which opens from the rearmost side of the pocket D and leads backward to, or closely to, the ash-pan F, which is suspended beneath the grate-bars of the fire-box of the boiler A; an opening, 11, is formed in the forward side of said ashpan so as to correspond to the line of the cin der-pipe E; the latter may be arranged, as

shown in Fig. 1, so that a slight space, as at 12, maybe left between its rearward end and said ash-pan, which allows a small volume of air to be carried,by the current of steam, into said opening, thereby supplying additional oxygen to support combustion, or, as shown in Fig. 4, with the rearward end of said cinder-pipe attached to the forward side of the ash-pan, but, in either construction, the cinders will be delivered into the ash-pan beneath the grate-bars of the fire-boxwhere they will not produce any effect in deadening the fire in the flre-box-and the blastproduced by the force of steam employed to impel the cinders through the pipe Ewill be utilized for injecting atmospheric air through the grate-bars to increase the combustion of the fuel in the fire-box. Preferably a perforated blast-deflector, 13, is fixed longitudinally in said ash-pan to correspond with the line of discharge of the cinders from the pipe E; said deflector being used for the purpose of effecting a distribution of the blast from said pipe. A draft-opening, 14:, is usually formed in the forward end of said ash-pan for admitting air to the fire.

G designates a steam discharge-pipe which leads from one of the steam-chests 4 to the forward side of the lower part of the pocket D. When the throttle-valve of the locomotive is open steam will flow into both of said steamchests and for that reason only one of said steam-chests will require a communication with said pocket. The lower end of the pipe G is provided with a discharge-nozzle, 15, whose line of discharge should be fixed to range in line with the center line of the pipe E, as more clearly shown in Fig. 4, so that the force of steam discharged from said nozzle will move in a direction corresponding to the cenfor line of the pipe E, whereby the resistance to the passage of cinders through said pipe is materially lessened and the destructive action of steam therein is reduced to a minimum. The pipe G is provided with a stop-valve, 16, for regulating and stopping the flow of steam through said pipe, and with a vacuum-valve, 17, which, when a partial vacuum is formed in the steam-chest (a condition of frequent occurrence when the throttle-valve is closed while the locomotive is running on a downgrade), will prevent cinders from being drawn into the steam-chest through the pipe G. l/Vhen preferred the steam-discharge pipe G may lead from any of the steam-passages which are located between the throttle'valve of the steam-pipe and the slide-valve of either cylinder; the essential point is that when the throttle-valve is closed the flow of steam through the pipe G will thereby be stopped without manipulating any other valves, thereby avoiding the danger of failing to turn on the flow of steam through said pipe, and the greater mistake of leaving the fiow of steam to continue through said pipe after the engine has ceased to exhaust.

Spark-arresters have heretofore been constructed with a cinder-pipe arranged to dis charge the cinders into the fire-box above the bed of burning fuel, but such an arrangement is objectionable for the reason that the cinders, being practically incombustible, will form an incrustation over the fuel so as to prevent combustion in the latter; another objcction to thelast named arrangement is that it interferes with the combustion of the fuel by admitting steam into the fire-box above the bed of burning fuel which-as iswell-known in practical physicsis one of the most potent agents for the extinguishment of fire, and especially so when the steam is not accompanied by a volume of air to furnish oxygen for the maintenance of combustion.

My invention operates in the following mauner: The sparkswhich are mostly particles of incombustible fuel-which are carried through the boiler-tubes by the force of the exhaust-blast are arrested by the arrester O and deflected downwardly, by said arrester, and impelled forwardly by the impetus given thereto by the exhaust-blast whereby said sparks, in the form of cinder particles, are carried to the foremost end of the smoke-arch where, under the influence of steam-blast from the pipes 10, said cinders are carried to the bottom of the pocket D, from whence they are dischargedby means of a steam-j et from the nozzle 15-through the cinder-pipeE and delivered into the ash-pan F beneath the grates of the fire-box. The force of the steam rushing through the pipe E causes avolume of air to be forcibly injected into said ash-pan beneath the grate-bars of the fire-box, which air will pass upwardly through the grate-bars to stimulate combustion and prevent the formation of clinkers in the buring fuel when coal is used.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the boiler of a locomotive engine provided with a smoke-arch at its forward end and having an ash-pan beneath the fire-bed or grate-bars at the opposite end, of a spark-arrester having the form of a V-shaped screen arranged in said smoke-arch between the forward end of the boiler-tubes and the smoke-stack, the after side of said IIO screen being reinforced by a heavier screen laid directly in contact with it, a cinder-pocket pendent from the lower side of the smokearch and having its upper end opening into the latter, a steam-blast pipe leading from the exhaust-pipe of the engine into said cinderpocket, a cinder-pipeleading from said pocket into said ash-pan, and a steam-blast pipe leading from a steam-passage between the throttle-valve and the slide-valve of either cylinder, connected to said pocket and arranged to discharge into said cinder-pipe a current of live steam on a line corresponding to the center line of said cinder-pipe; whereby the cinders collected in said smoke-arch will be forcibly drawn from the smoke-arch and injected into the ash-pan beneath the grate-bars of the firebox, and the discharge of steam through said steam-blast pipe will be automatically stopped by shutting the throttle-valve of the main steam-pipe, substantially as herein specified.

2. The combination, with the boiler of a locomotive engine provided with a smoke-arch at its forward end and an ash-pan at its rearward end, of a spark-arrester located in said smoke-arch and interposed between the forward end of the boiler-tubes and the smokestack, a cinder-pocket pendent from the lower side of the smoke-arch and having its upper end opening into the latter, a cinder-pipe attached to said pocket and having its rearmost end slightly removed from, but in line with WM. I-I. Low, S. B. BREWER. 

